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墨書 Inktalez
Due to everyone's fatigue, we decided to rest before moving on. Perhaps the environment here was too comfortable, and I quickly fell asleep.
In my dreams...
In a blur, I seemed to see Hills appear before my eyes again. Before I could clearly see her face, a gust of cold wind suddenly blew from my feet to the top of my head. I was taken aback. When I looked down, a chill ran through me; my feet were standing on the edge of a bottomless cliff, and before me was a wooden Long Bridge, secured by iron chains, suspended between the cliffs. A gust of wind came, causing it to sway.
I gasped in shock. For someone like me who had a fear of heights, this felt like standing at the gates of hell. Instinctively, I took a few steps back.
Holding onto my flashlight, its beam pierced through the darkness like an arrow, allowing me to see the figure across the bridge. Although not very clear, I could confirm that it was Hills.
Dressed in a white dress that swayed slightly with the cold wind, her Black Hair seemed almost ethereal in the light. She slowly stepped onto the Long Bridge, but it was unstable. As she stepped forward, a wooden plank snapped and fell into the abyss below. She leaned dangerously and nearly fell.
I hurriedly shouted at her, "Don't come over!"
But she seemed oblivious to my words. Suddenly, I felt an eerie sense of familiarity; it was as if I had experienced this scene before. I blanked out for a few seconds until I slapped my forehead to regain focus—dealing with the current situation was most important.
I continued shouting for her not to come closer. When that proved ineffective, I steadied myself and cautiously placed one foot on the Long Bridge, carefully making my way forward while urging Hills not to move.
Hills' long skirt fluttered in the wind as she walked forward, seemingly unaware of her surroundings. The wooden planks on the Long Bridge danced like butterflies, drifting away at will.
Several times Hills nearly lost her balance but fortunately managed to stay upright.
Meanwhile, I felt as if I were walking on thin ice, each step difficult and my face pale with anxiety. As I got closer, I finally saw Hills' face clearly; she looked pale with a vacant stare fixed on me, her lips tightly sealed. Yet, I couldn't see any soul in her eyes.
At that moment, the Long Bridge became increasingly unstable as if it were about to collapse at any moment.
I spoke urgently and earnestly, hoping she would stop moving forward, but it was futile.
As soon as I finished speaking, she took another step forward. Suddenly, that step felt like the last straw on the Long Bridge; it cracked in the middle. With still several dozen meters separating us, as it completely broke apart, I grabbed onto the iron chain and was thrown against the cliff wall by gravity while Hills let herself fall freely into the void...
At that moment, a tremendous wave surged up from the bottom of the sheer cliff, and afterward, I lost consciousness. When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the Fat Master and the others.
Suddenly, it dawned on me that I had just experienced a nightmare. I wiped the sweat off my forehead, feeling somewhat weak.
"Old Sun, you better tell me honestly, have you been up to something shady?"
Looking at the wicked grin on the Fat Master's face, I immediately scolded him.
After a while, the Fat Master said, "Old Sun, you were caught in that nightmare. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have escaped. No need to thank me; just bring me ten or eight Mingqi when we get out."
I was momentarily speechless. Seeing that I wasn't responding, the Fat Master chuckled triumphantly.
"Are you okay?" Zhang Tong's gentle face came into view.
"I'm fine."
I felt a bit dazed.
I checked the time; about two hours had passed. I glanced at everyone's spirits—they seemed fine. It was almost time to proceed with our next move.
The Fat Master was already itching to go.
After taking a few steps, it felt like something was lodged in my heart. Suddenly, I recalled those glowing eyes. It seemed something was pulling me to uncover the truth.
I called out to the Mud Man, "I want to take a look."
The Mud Man nodded silently. "You're injured; I'll go alone."
"No way! If we're going, we're going together." Following the Mud Man's lead, this time I prepared a flare and maneuvered around the spot where we had fallen before, moving forward a bit more.
The two points of white light grew increasingly bright. After communicating with the Mud Man, I threw out the flare. At the moment of throwing it, we both shielded our eyes with our hands because the light from the flare was particularly intense. A few seconds later, aided by the white light, I could see clearly ahead; it was empty and devoid of any imagined danger. However, those two points of white light had vanished without a trace. Once the flare's light faded away, those two points of white light reappeared. Suddenly, I realized something, and a smile spread across my face. The Mud Man probably sensed it too.
"An exit!" I exclaimed, my voice filled with surprise.
"First, let's get out."
When I shared the news with everyone, they were initially astonished, but soon their faces broke into smiles. We all hurried into the narrow space. As we rounded the entrance where Zongzi was located, suddenly, a hoarse cry echoed from below, as if shouting: "Ghostly Heavenly Palace... Ghostly Heavenly Palace." However, at that moment, no one paid it any attention.
As we approached the two points of natural white light, we discovered that they were shining through a wall made of packed earth. Naturally, we were overjoyed.
But when we began to clear the obstruction, we realized that this was not ordinary dirt; it had been specially treated. Due to the limited space, we had to put in a considerable amount of effort to manage it.
When the wall finally broke open, a flood of bright light poured in. We instinctively shielded our eyes with our hands; it had been dozens of hours since we faced such intense light, and some of us were unaccustomed to it.
The clay figure was the first to step out, and I was the last. The wind blew in from afar, and I didn't pay much attention to my surroundings at first. I took a deep breath and then absorbed the atmosphere outside.
When I opened my eyes again, I was initially surprised but then felt a sense of relief.
We were now positioned halfway up a mountain; outside this exit stretched another lower range of mountains. Although these mountains weren't tall, there were many of them. Surrounded by this vast expanse of peaks, our exact location was still unclear.
Zhang Tong scanned the area with a bewildered expression.
He pulled out the previous map for comparison but found no similarities whatsoever. It seemed we were in a blind spot; I feared we might be lost.
Fat Ma, however, was unconcerned: "We're out now; everything else can be dealt with."
At that moment, the sun hung high in the sky, and soon we felt its warmth. We sought shade under some trees to rest. After spending three days in the tomb, we were filthy and disheveled, looking like beggars.
The six of us gathered together; once outside, there was no need for pretense as we drank water and ate our rations heartily.
The only regret was that we had sacrificed two comrades.
Everyone's spirits were somewhat low.
Fat Ma opened his heart and said, "Life and death are fated, not determined by heaven. It's all destiny; we can't blame ourselves."
In the end, we simply erected a makeshift grave for them before leaving.
Although we had escaped, the sudden thought of that incident left everyone in a somber mood. What followed was even more torturous; we wandered around these uneven mountains for several hours without finding a way out.
The sun was already setting in the west, and a gentle evening breeze blew past us. We were exhausted, like dogs, and found a random spot to rest. It seemed we wouldn't find an exit today.
Fat Ma leaned against a tree, tilting his head back in hopes of squeezing water from his leaky water bottle. He shook it vigorously, but there was still no response. Cursing under his breath, he threw the water bottle away.
"What a lousy place, damn it."
Seeing the furious Fat Ma, I handed him my water bottle.
He was somewhat righteous and initially refused my offer but eventually drank some reluctantly.
As night fell, we gathered some firewood and lit a campfire in a relatively open area under the starry sky. Fat Ma got up and called out to me, saying he would go hunt for some game.
This had become a survival skill for both of us in the wild. We ventured deeper into the mountains while I marked our path along the way.
Not far into our search, Fat Ma's keen eyes spotted a bird's nest in a tree. Without hesitation, he hugged the trunk and shook it vigorously while shouting, "Old Sun, catch!"
I looked up at the tree as stars fell into my eyes.
Suddenly, I recalled a line of poetry: "The moon of today is not seen by those of ancient times; yet this moon once illuminated those of old." Indeed, throughout the river of history, how many people have vanished within it?
"Old Sun, what are you dawdling for?" Just then, an egg fell from the nest and hit my head, shattering and jolting me awake.
Fat Ma stared at me with a pained expression. "Comrade Sun, please get your act together."
I responded affirmatively and quickly caught all the bird eggs that fell from the tree. Fat Ma was naturally overjoyed.
Afterward, we caught a wild rabbit and made our way back. After simply preparing the rabbit, we roasted it over the campfire. Once we had eaten, our stomachs were full, but our thirst only grew stronger.
Time passed—one day, then two—and we had run out of water. We were on the brink of becoming wild men; if we couldn't find a way out soon, we would have to face the beasts.
"What kind of cursed mountain is this? It's like a maze," Huang Lin said with an unhappy expression.
Another day went by, and our legs felt like they would break from walking. Finally, on that day, we encountered a Woodcutter, and by following him, we managed to escape the mountains.
He led us down to a village, one that was completely unfamiliar to us. The villagers spoke with an accent that was noticeably different from what we were used to.
Later, we learned that we had arrived in Yunnan. After wandering in the mountains for several days, we had somehow ended up in Yunnan. Thankfully, we hadn't died in those woods.
Once in the village, our first priority was to find water. We had never realized how blissful drinking water could feel!
The Woodcutter watched us drink as if we were wild men. We didn't pay much attention to him; we just drank until we were satisfied.
Our clothes were tattered, and when I finally pulled some money from my pocket, I noticed a change in the Woodcutter's gaze. I thought he might refuse the money.
However, it turned out I was worrying for nothing; the Woodcutter accepted the money without hesitation.
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